Rose’s Story:
Eyes, Dreams, Endings, and Beginnings
Story by Ashley
The night of my second meeting with the Sisterhood, I woke with the sun still out and to the smell of blood in the barn. There was no movement, but with a quick search of the barn, I found the source of the blood: a gash on Asa’s forehead.
I figured with Ben around, vitae shouldn't be left out. So I dabbed up the blood and then went to lick the wound closed. Only the wound wouldn't close, and when I touched it, I realized it was a third eye on Asa’s forehead. The vitae itself was unfathomably sweet. It tasted better than even the Methuselah blood I stole from Hirut before. Very strange for a “Caitiff”, but he'd explain himself eventually.
The moment I closed my eyes again, I was somewhere else, under the sun in a foreign city. I eventually gathered I was in Vienna after I floated around a bit. I didn't even have a physical form. Sorta like a floating camera moving in whatever direction I thought to, but I was drawn into the earth and saw layers upon layers of Tremere wards. I recognized them from a safehouse's perimeter a few years back. There were wards for humans, ghosts, lupines, vampires, and even fey. Yes, girly, fairies are real too.
When I passed through the last wall of wards, I found myself in a small room with my coterie. We were all floating as we watched a Tremere speak to another in torpor, one stood, and the other lay on a ritual table of some sort. The Tremere who was awake debriefed his master, saying that the fat Toreador (likely George) was killed under his orders, the Mad One has risen within a fledgling who a Salubri assists, and that their agents are on their tail. The servant begged for more orders.
The one on the table's skin began roiling and changing color along with his facial features. Like a Tzmisce was living inside him and tormenting the Tremere under his skin. The servant left, while we remained, then the shifting flesh stopped in the form of a kind, dusky-skinned gentleman who snapped open a third eye, much like what I’d seen on Asa’s forehead. He spoke, but all I could make out was the name Samael. Like the archangel? Or maybe a Cainite taking the mantle of one?
Then the flesh snapped back to a pallid, cruel man who beckoned for Etrius, likely the Tremere who’d just left. Shortly after the coterie’s skin began to boil on the other side of the world, sizzling our vitae a bit before Zachary pulled us out.
Fortunately, we woke with only a bit of blood loss instead of legit burns. I had thoughts, though. A fledgling paired with the Mad One. Gehenna, ancients rising… maybe the progenitor of Malkavians? This Malkavian is helped by a Salubri, a bloodline I’ve not heard of. Then there’s the visions Zachary has of the future, and Asa’s secrets, an incongruent story, and both of their vampiric ages. I believed those two would be who they’re speaking of, especially considering their Tremere tail. I wouldn’t bring it up, though. That knowledge should only be confirmed with their enthusiastic consent.
After we rose, Gwen told us she lost a wraith, and that there was a group of rival necromancers she’s honorbound to slay working within the Sabbat. One of her Wraiths, John Edgar, raged in response, shaking the farmhouse we were gathered in. Gwen brought him to heel very quickly, telling him we must remain vigilant to avenge the death of the lost wraith. After the poltergeist incident finished, I fed the boys my vitae out of a Denny’s coffee thermos, and we left to meet with the Sisterhood.
The drive in Big Friedah’s pickup took around an hour into the night of Christmas. We arrived at an unmarked shoulder of the road where Friedah would park an hour before midnight, and we hiked into the mountains. The climb took twenty minutes or so for most of the group, and two minutes or so with Friedah and me.
We were met with a small group of Sisters, a few I’d never met before. They asked who I was, and Friedah introduced me as Rose. Things took on an odd beat in this moment. The reactions were strange.
The group was overjoyed and asked after me, saying, “This is the Rose?”
They spoke about me like a concept, a grand concept at that, except for one, Luna Blue, who introduced herself on our way into the cave. She looked a lot like me. She had these beast marks of claws and glowing eyes, just like mine. Hers were different, though. Her eyes were a comforting silver over my intimidating amber, and she had a streak of silver hair. Luna was a fitting name.
What was even more strange about her was how she immediately cut through the cultish atmosphere with empathy and whispered into my ear.
“Rose, are you alright? You seem… on edge.”
“I’m fine, it’s just that this is my first time here, and I’m bringing men of all things to our gathering.”
I was lying, and I’m sure she knew it. My humanity had deteriorated significantly. I was more beast than Rose now. It could’ve been my look that tipped her off, or maybe a deeper vision of my spirit.
There was also another type of anxiety with all the naked women here. I was different. They hate men, or at the very least shun them, and I’m not one… but if I were naked in front of the whole pack, they’d find out that I used to have the body of one. Would they still want me? Did I even belong here? My mind was riddled with a hundred questions about myself and my validity.
When we made it to the gathering proper, I was asked to explain myself and my company. I shared that I had followed Nana’s guidance, that I had met Gwen, the death she had described, found the temple, the rest of my coterie, our battle in DC, and the prophecy of the gateways. Nana approved of my thought to bring them here with the context, but still asked why they should trust the guests, the men.
I explained that each man was either a fresh embrace or a ghoul that remained steadfastly humane, and utterly harmless, but that Gwen was very old and cunning. She settled on their entry, but decided the next gathering would be held elsewhere. I then asked for her guidance on something in private before I would retrieve the coterie.
We moved our conversation to the mountaintop, and I first shared my greatest issue. My beast was taking me, and I was terrified I’d become a wight before we could accomplish what we’d set out to do. That I would be lost before I could save anyone, and that what’s left of me would kill so many that I wasn’t sure I should even go on.
She told me that she’d known since laying eyes on me that my humanity was fading, and that I was right to fear the consequences. If I were lost to wightdom, it could kill her spirit and body in the process of stopping me. She told me I would have to ask for the help of Luna Blue, who I’d met before, who’d already been asking about my well-being.
She then changed the subject to the greater prophecy, and that she knew about the topic of gateways. She explained that she knew I was coming for a long while, and that the Sisters knew of what I might do. The Gateways are gates to Gehenna itself, so this means my coterie are all the Harbingers of The End, but at the same time, the only ones who can stop it. It was earth-shattering news. Should I tell the coterie? What difference would it make? It might break Zachary. He already feels that his presence is destructive, so I couldn’t imagine his reaction to this.
Before we could return, I asked Nana one more thing, a seemingly small thing. I asked her why Luna, the one in the sky, not below us, held so much power over me. Why does it make me so angry and wild? Why does it make me so strong?
Her answer was that I was kin to lupines, and that the condition was not unheard of. Odd. A pack tried to kill me, their relative, in my first nights. It left me with more questions. Who were my actual parents? Were they still alive? Are they fighting against the end just like I am?
With that, I slid down the mountainside without so much as a sound and retrieved my coterie. Each of them wore one of our ritual gowns, bad-fit as they were. It was a sign of respect.